Just a note to follow his rant. So you rant about how bad Bobby's efforts have been and don't actually review this recording? Firstly, there are some great shows by various groups Bobby has put on recently. Secondly, l am in Hilo, Hawaii and your post violates the spirit and meaning of aloha. Please change your name to Sanctimonious Fool

Somebody finally said it in this comment thread. Wtf happened to the rest of the band post Jerry and Brent? The latest ensemble is ripping off the people so badly it's a tragedy. Bobby and the swindle have created a privileged boomer corwd of greed that is atrocious. Pigpen was the roots and soul of the band. Then the next phase carried the torch to the point of Brent which returned the good vibes. Pigpen and Brent were both from the heart with a lot of soul. (...what the heck happened to these guys they really threw the hippies under the bus! It was tough enough for deadheads to muster a 20 dollar ticket. Now we have a complete ripoff. Dead and the Douchebags...any person with an ear for music can recognize how bad the current lineup is it's pathetic and so are the rich fools that act like imbeciles at the shows) Thank you for Audio Archive we can at least listen to the good times - the great shows - and still retain positive energy.

Listening in my highschool Spanish class, nothing but love and respect for this recording. Just legendary Viola Lee and Smokestack. One of my favorites!!

Good.

3 stars
Thanks to the reviewers below for the historical information on this. What a wonderful event it must have been. What a great way for the Dead to leave the Haight – the gift of a free show. Of course, they never completely left the city. They continued to play a lot of San Francisco gigs throughout 1968. (The Straight Theater at Haight and Cole was torn down—it’s now a Goodwill store with apartments.)

The Haight was going downhill at the time, but there is another reason for the move: They were beginning to make some money. They had gigs all the time and their first album was number 1 in San Francisco. They weren’t millionaires, but were comfortable, and living in the cramped house together on Ashbury had probably gotten old.

We are indeed very lucky to have this recording. But from what we have of the show, it is not as good as the shows they were playing at time, particularly the brilliant run of February shows (including 2/3, 2/14, and 2/23-24 Kings Beach Bowl, DP vol 22). Viola Lee is the best song of this show, with some nice jamming. Pigpen is great on Smokestack, but the band is a bit repetative—they hadn’t played it publicly in a year. (Check out Smokestack from 11-19-66!) Pigpen is also strong on Lovelight, but towards, Bob takes over from Pigpen, and it is not pretty. (Bob also did Lovelights in the late 1980’.)

Definitely not a bad show, though. What as scene it must have been at Haight and Cole.

Well of lest first start this off with the history of this show. it was the fair well concert that the dead put together in less than two hours illegally blocking off haight street for a fare well to the neighborhood they lived in. what a fucking band getting two flat beds together and setting up all of their equipment and finding enough power in two hours but yes it was done. there is no soundboard but only one known tape recorded by the dead head that couldn’t miss the occasion. steve brown stuck up a cheap mike over the crowd toward the end his batteries died out and couldn't finnish what is said to be a great finale. the viola is ripping at first and then turns into one of the most intense 20 minute jam sessions (feb to sept 68’) the dead have expanded too. it is in 68 when the live dead era began and this viola is a great example of what latter came to be the insane jams that were produced during the later 60’s such as the live dead album. phils base is so disticnt it could be even called magical every note hit breath taking. the jams become more and more far out you could only inagine were the dead were creatively lost in self consiousness, alca pulco gold, and lsd for the most part. certainly not their best viola ever but up there along with the one from the oddles of noodles under ground cd’s that contains what i would consider the greatest viola ever short at only 13 minutes but the dead have never put so much effort in those 13 minutes on any other viola. though there are allot that are amazing (just about every single one).

They begin show off their stuff by pig harmonious voice chanting “ooh smoke stack lightning” and you know that it gunna be a good one. the band breaks off from pig and then once again decend into the trance that is the “jam” complete improvisation that is from the soul and so perfect. the tape cuts of in the middle for a min but comes in with an insane jam that i would consider one of the bet is Smoke stacks from 1968.
some of the pictures form an epic hour an a half -

http://bp3.blogger.com/__MBlWvx9Cy8/R7RGwTEoS0I/AAAAAAAAAGk/WhxnjW6zbn8/s1600-h/1968+03-03.gif


the love-light is shut out by the noise at first but then you can hear how great it becomes trully amazing and epic. the hurts me to is soulful but then it just stops and we miss the rest of great moment in history.

Jerry was about freedom, not Bobby corp.

At least one free show still is....seems odd today the guys who created what would be called "a way of life"...would come to try and stop it.....Sorry to the man in the "SEE YA" boat but YOU cant stop the music...even when the band is all packed and gone. Thanks to the Archive for being and giving us a chance to close our eyes to the usual and open them to a time portal. Nobody should stop that.
This show sounds good to me...get it while you can.

Boy would I have loved to have been there! Sure, the whole Haight Ashbury scene was going to shit (well, it was pretty much already shit) but this performace showed that you still could work a little bit of magic in a town of hopeless speed freaks and lost junkies.
And boy did these guys rock! You can hear the crowd going nuts the entire time! Viola Lee, Hurts Me Too, Smokestack Lightning, Turn On Your Lovelight...damn man! What an amazing specticle that must've been. all of haight street packed with trippin hippies all dancing and going nuts to the grateful dead. I agree with the previous reviewer, a real manic scene! Download this baby!

Going off in the background and the guy blowing on the whistle. There is a manic feeling to this wish I was there. Agree with the others the stage banter is great

I believe this was recorded by Steve Brown who would later work for the Dead.I was once told that he was living in LA at the time and traveled with his recorder To SF to see Cream at either the Fillmore or Winterland or both. It might have been one of those shows intended for the Fillmore but moved to Winterland due to popular demand. Anyway he recorded Cream Sat nite and I guess before heading back to LA learned of the Deads Sun afternoon show. This recording was done using the remaining battery power which wasn't enough to get the whole thing. His Cream recording circulates also.

This AUD recording isn't so hot, but it's better than 5/18/68 or 6/14/68, for sure. But I won't complain any further, since us Deadheads are lucky this special show was even recorded. It is, of course, the famous "Flatbed Truck" show; completely impromptu. The 21-minute Viola Lee is pure energy, nothing less. The other blues covers, Smokestack, Lovelight, and Hurts Me Too are all over ten minutes long, and are essential for Pigpen fans. It would have been cool to have the complete That's It suite, and Dancing in the Streets (appropriate!) to have been recorded, but this show is not half bad the way it is now. Plus, the chatter in between songs is really historically interesting.

It's pretty intense...Viola Lee will put you on that flatbed with Jerry and the boys.

Enjoy!!!